An annotated bibliography of Sappho in English

There have been many English translations of Sappho, and the following list is certainly not complete. It is arranged by date of publication, from oldest to most recent.

Precursors (before 1880)

Translations published before 1880, the first discovery of Sappho on an ancient papyrus. Only the fragments of Sappho quoted by ancient authors were known. Early translations contained only a handful of fragments, and were often grouped with other Greek lyric poets.

• Philips, Ambrose. “An Hymn to Venus”, Spectator 223, and “Sappho’s Ode”, Spectator 229 (1711). Translations of Sappho 1 and Sappho 31 first published in the Spectator in 1711.
• Addison, John. The Works of Anacreon Translated into English Verse. To Which Are Added the Odes, Fragments, and Epigrams of Sappho (1735). Includes translations of ten works with facing Greek text, of which only seven (frr. 1, 2, 31, 55, 102, 130–131 and 168B) are still attributed to Sappho.
• Fawkes, Francis. The works of Anacreon, Sappho, Bion, Moschus and Musæus [1789 (1760)]. Initially published anonymously attributed to “A Gentleman of Cambridge”. The same fragments as Addison 1735, except omitting frr. 130–131.

Early discoveries (1880–1955)

The period from 1880 to 1955 covers the period of Sappho’s rediscovery on ancient papyrus, up until Edgar Lobel and Denys Page’s monumental Sappho and Alcaeus, the edition from which virtually all modern editions and translations can ultimately trace descent.

• Wharton, Henry Thornton. Sappho: Memoir, Text, Selected Renderings and a Literal Translation (1898 [1885]) Influential Victorian edition and translation. Went through four editions, with new material added in the second and third editions, and a biography of Wharton in the posthumous fourth edition. Alongside Greek texts and Wharton’s own prose translation were included a selection of previously-publshed verse translations.
• Bliss Carman. Sappho: One Hundred Lyrics (1904).
• Storer, Edward. Poems and Fragments of Sappho (1915). Translations of Sappho published first in the modernist poetry journal The Egoist and subsequently as a standalone booklet.
• Stacpoole, H. de Vere. Sappho: A New Rendering (1920).
• Cox, Edwin Marion. The Poems of Sappho (1924). Greek text, prose and verse translations by Cox and selected historical verse translations.
• Edmonds, J. M. Lyra Graeca I: Terpander, Alcman, Sappho and Alcaeus (1928 [1922]). The first of Edmonds’ three-volume Loeb edition of the Greek lyric poets. Edmonds’ edition is notorious for its speculative translations, and was reviewed scathingly by Edgar Lobel. The Sappho was also published as a standalone volume, Sappho Revocata (1928) with illustrations by Vera Willoughby.

Modernity (after 1955)

Translations published after Lobel & Page's edition of the Lesbian poets.

• Barnard, Mary. Sappho: A New Translation (1958).
• Barnstone, Willis. Sappho (1965). With parallel Greek text. See Barnstone (2006) for a more recent translation by the same author.
• Davenport, Guy. Sappho: Songs and Fragments (1965).
• Groden, Suzy Q. The Poems of Sappho (1966). Eleven of Groden’s translations were previously published in the classics journal Arion in 1964.
• Roche, Paul. The Love Songs of Sappho (1966).
• Campbell, David A. Greek Lyric I: Sappho and Alcaeus (1990 [1982]). Modern Loeb edition, replacing Edmonds 1928. Greek text with reliable prose translations.
• West, Martin L. Greek Lyric Poetry (1993). Collected fragments of Greek lyric poets in translation, including 89 of the most substantial fragments of Sappho and 11 Aeolic fragments of uncertain authorship.
• Carson, Anne. If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho (2002). With parallel Greek text.
• Barnstone, Willis. Sweetbitter Love: Poems of Sappho (2006). With parallel Greek text. Abridged paperback edition published as The Complete Poems of Sappho (2009), with the same translations but without the Greek text; also omitted from the abridged edition are the epilogue and metrical guide by William McCulloch.
• Poochigian, Aaron. Stung with Love: Poems and Fragments of Sappho (2009). Penguin Classics translation with an introduction by Carol Ann Duffy.
• Daley, John. Poetry of Sappho (2011). Fine art book of translations, illustrated with previously unpublished woodcuts by Anita Cowles Rearden and etchings by Julie B. Mehretu. Introduction by Paige duBois. Many of Daley’s translations are reproduced in duBois’ monograph Sappho for the Understanding Classics series published by I. B. Tauris.
• Lombardo, Stanley. Sappho: Complete Poems and Fragments (2016 [2002]). With introduction by Pamela Gordon.
• Balmer, Josephine. Sappho: Poems & Fragments (2018 [1986]).
• Powell, Jim. The Poetry of Sappho: An Expanded Edition, Featuring Newly Discovered Poems (2019 [2007]).
• Preddle, Chris. Sappho: Songs and Poems (2022).
• Beachy-Quick, Dan. Wind—Mountain—Oak: The Poems of Sappho (2023).
• Rayor, Diane. Sappho: A New Translation of the Complete Works (2023 [2014]). With introduction and notes by André Lardinois.